Rolling mills



March 2, 1965 R. B. sms ETAL ROLLING MILLS 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 16, 1952 Haj.

INVENTORS RAYMOND B. S| DENNIS G. BLOOMFlELD THE? A'r-roreNEY March 1965 R. B. SIMS ETAL I 3,171,304

ROLLING MILLS Filed July 16, 1962 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS RAYMOND B. Snvns [Emma G. BLOOMFIELD THEIR A'TTQRNEY Mam]! 1965 R. B. SIMS ETAL 3,171,304

ROLLING MILLS Filed July 16, 1962 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 l8 /20 fQ/ZC :15 /9 BF" I35 4/ 40 x 1 49' lNv N 025 RAYMOND \MS i kums G.BLOOMFIELD TI'IEJR ATTORNEY March 2, 1965 Filed July 16, 1962 R. B. SIMS ETAL 3,171,304

ROLLING was 4 Sheets-Shet 4 lNvEN'roRs RAYMOND B. Sums Danms G.BLOOMFIELD JM Q. flwa THEIR ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,171,304 ROLLING R HLLS Raymond Bernard Sims, Shefiield, and Dennis George Bloomfield, Wickersiey, near Rotherharn, England, assignors to Davy and United Engineering Company Limited, Shefi'ield, Yorkshire, England Fiied July 16, 1962, Ser. No. 210,622 8 Claims. (Cl. 80-1) The present invention relates to rolling mills and in particular to arrangements for changing the rolls of a rolling mill.

According to the invention there is provided a rolling mill in which a pair of work rolls are supported in interfitting chocks adapted to be withdrawn as a unit from the mill.

In another aspect the invention provides a work roll assembly for a rolling mill comprising a pair of work rolls, a pair of lower work roll chocks on the necks of the lower roll, and a pair of upper work roll chocks on the necks of the upper work roll, the upper chocks interfitting with, and supportable by, the lower chocks so that the work rolls and chocks are removable as a unit.

In a further aspect the invention provides a rolling mill comprising a housing, an upper and a lower work roll, lower work roll chocks for the lower work roll, upper work roll chocks for the upper Work roll, the upper chocks interfitting with and supportable by the lower chocks so that the work rolls and their chocks are removable together as a unit, surfaces on the housing for supporting the lower chocks for roll withdrawal, and means for adjusting the height of the lower chocks between a roll withdrawal position in which the lower work rolls are supported on the surfaces and a rolling position in which the chocks are raised ofi' those surfaces.

The various features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of a 4- high rolling mill embodying the invention given by way of example and illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is an end elevation of a mill,

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation of the mill with the conventional mill drive arrangements omitted,

FIGURE 3 is a detail view of the chock arrangements of FIGURE 1 on an enlarged scale, and

FIGURE 4 is a partly schematic side view of mill and roll changing trolley arrangement.

Referring now to FIGURES 1 and 2 the mill comprises upper and lower back-up rolls and 11 acting on upper and lower work rolls 12 and 13 mounted in substantially similar housings 14, 14'. The drive arrangements for the various rolls are of conventional construction and thus are not described in detail or shown in the drawings.

Each of the housings 4, 14' (FIGURE 2), which are located one at each end of the rolls 1013 and are interconnected by frame members 14", is in two parts; an upper part constituted by a chock 15 for the upper backup roll 10, and a lower part in the form of a substantially U-shaped frame member 16 which constitutes a housing for the chock 17 of the lower back-up roll 11. The work rolls 12 and 13 are respectively mounted in interfitting chocks 18 and 19. The chock 18 of the upper work roll is received in a recess in the upper back-up roll chock 15 and has two arms 20 and 21 hearing against two jacks 22, 23 which retain work roll 12 against its back-up roll 19 when the lower work roll 13 is lowered by the roll gap adjusting mechanism. The chock 19 of the lower work roll is received partly in the recess in chock 15 and partly in the space bet\ een the limbs of the U-shaped frame member 16. The interfitting faces 24- and 25 of the two chocks 18 and 19 are splined and 3,171 ,304 Patented Mar. 2, 1 965 chock plates 26 and 27 restrain axial movement of the work rolls.

The two parts of the housing 14 are linked by prestressing means in the form of two tension bolts 28', 29 which are anchored at points 30, 31 in the limbs of frame member 16 and pass through spacer plates 32 and 33 interposed between the two parts of the housing and through bores in the chock 15. The heads of the bolts 28, 29 are engaged on the upper face of chock 15 by hydraulic nuts 34, 35 by means of which a desired prestressing of the housing 14 can be achieved. The interposition of plates 32 and 33 permits adjustment of the vertical separation between the housing parts by the use of different thicknesses of plate or no plates at all to suit different diameter combinations of work and back-up rolls.

In the case of the space between the limbs of the U-shaped frame member 16 and below the level of the anchoring points 30, 31 is arranged a rolling gap adjustment mechanism which takes the place of the normal screwdown mechanism.

This adjustment mechanism comprises two wedges 36, 37 mounted on a screw shaft 38 arranged to be driven by a motor (not shown), rotation of shaft 38 in opposite directions producing movement of the two wedges 36 and 37 towards and away from each other. The inclined upper surfaces of the wedges 36, 37 form supports for similarly inclined lower surfaces of the chock 17 of the lower back-up roll so that adjustment of the wedges by means of the shaft 38 tends to move chock 17 and with it back-up roll 11 upwards or downwards to adjust the rolling gap. Check plates 39, restrain the chock 17 and thus the back-up roll 11 against axial movement.

Referring now to FIGURE 3 the arrangements for various diameters of rolls 10-13 are indicated by means of semi-circles representing one half of a roll. The

' smaller diameter upper back-up roll 10A has its center at A and the larger diameter upper back-up roll 10B has its center at a higher point B and the same reference nonenclature applies to the work rolls 12 and 13 and the lower back-up roll 11 the centers of these latter rolls being referenced C, D, E, F, G, H. The positions of the chocks 18 and 19 of the work rolls shown to the right of FIGURE 3 are those when all the rolls used are of the smaller diameter that is, rolls 10A, 12C, 13E and 116. The positions to the left of FIGURE 3 are those when all rolls are of the larger diameter, that is rolls 19B, 121), 13F, and 11H.

The chock 18 comprises a central body part housing the bearings of the upper work roll 12 from which two arms 20, 21 which, as previously mentioned, bear on hydraulic jacks 22, 23 which serve to maintain the upper work roll and upper back-up roll in contact when the lower work roll is lowered and also provide adjustment of the vertical height of chock 18 over the distance between the centres C and D of the two sizes of work roll shown. The chocks 13 and 19 for the upper and lower work rolls are interfitting. The side faces 24, 25 of the body part of chock 18 fit between upstanding projections of the lower work roll chock 19 and the confronting faces of these projections are complementarily splined to permit relative vertical movement between the chocks 18 and 19 whilst preventing relative movement in a direction axially of "the work rolls they support.

The chock 19, in addition to a central body part housing the bearings of the lower work roll and the upstanding projections referred to, has two outwardly eX- tending arms 40 and 41 towards the ends of which are mounted rollers 44, 45 which in the operational setting of the mill lie above two rails 42, 43 which form a track for rolling the chocks 18, 19 and the rolls 12, 13 as a unit out of the mill. As can be seen from FIGURE 4 the rails 42, 43 extend only a short way out of the roll changing end of mill where they are abutted by similar rails mounted on or forming part of a roll changing trolley on to which the roll and chock unit can be moved.

The rails 42, 43 are themselves adjustable in height by wedge mechanisms 46, 47 actuated by levers 48, 49 the height adjustment being sufficient to allow for the change in vertical height as between centers E and F for the two cases of larger rolls and smaller rolls.

In order to change the work rolls, the drive is disengaged, the hydraulic jacks 22, 23 are retracted and the motor drive for the adjustment wedges 36, 37 actuated in a direction to move the two Wedges apart thus lowering the chock of the lower back-up roll 11 and permitting the two work rolls 12 and 13 to follow the roll 11 until the rollers 44, 45 rest upon the rails 42., This lowering of roll 11 is then continued until there is a sufilcient clearance between rolls 11 and 13 to allow free movement of the chock and roll unit. Preferably the range of adjustment of the rails 42, 43 and the range of adjustment of the back-up roll 11 are arranged such that there is A inch clearance between rolls 11 and 13 in both the larger roll case and the smaller roll case when the wedges 36, 37 are at maximum separation.

Referring now to FIGURE 4 the mill stand is indicated schematically at the right hand side of this figure, the rail 43 being shown projecting from the housing 14. Positionedin or on the floor and running towards the roll changing end of the mill is a trackway St for the wheels51 of a trolley 52 having mounted on it rails 53 corresponding to the rails 42, 43 of the mill housing and similarly adjustable inheightf For roll changing the trolley is run into position with its rails 53 abutting the rails 42, 43 and the chock and roll unit, released as previously described, is drawn out of the, mill and on to the trolley 52 where it assumes the position indicated bythe reference 54 in FIGURE 4. The trolley with the unit 54 upon it is then run clear of the mill and a trolley with a new chock and roll unit is run up to the mill and the new unit inserted. Various arrangements can be used for making the actual replacement of the rolls. Thus a second trolley with a new chock and roll unit already mounted thereon may be positioned ready to take the place of the trolley carrying the withdrawn unit as soon as this is run well clear of the mill. Alternatively the withdrawn unit can be removed from the trolley and replaced by a new unit which is then run up to the mill on the same trolley, or the worn rolls can be removed from their chocks whilst on the trolley, replaced by new rolls and the new rolls in the original chocks run up to the mill.

In accordance with the provisions of "the patent statutes, we have explained the principle and operation of our invention and have illustrated and described what we consider to represent the best embodiment thereof. However, we desire to have it understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described.

We claim:

1. A rolling mill comprising a housing, an upper and a lower work roll, lower work roll chocks for the lower work roll, upper work roll chocks for the upper work roll, the upper chocks interfitting with and supportable by the lower chocks so that the work rolls and their chocks are removable together as a unit, surfaces on the housing for supporting the lower work roll chocks during removal of the unit from the housing, and means for adjusting the height of the lower work roll chocks between a roll Withdrawal position in which the lower \work roll chocks are supported on the surfaces and a 4 rolling position in which those chocks are raised off the surfaces.

2. A rolling mill comprising a housing, upper and lower work rolls having respectively upper and lower work roll chocks, upper and lower backup rolls having respectively upper lower backup roll chocks, the upper work roll chocks interfitting with and supportable by the lower work rolls chocks so that the work rolls and their chocks are removable together as a unit, surfaces on the housing for supporting the lower Work roll chocks during removal of the unit from the housing and means for adjusting the height of the lower backup roll chocks between a work roll withdrawal position, in which the lower work roll chocks are supported on the surfaces and the lower backup roll is lowered clear of the lower work roll, and a rolling position in which the lower work roll is supported by the lower backup roll and the lower work roll chocks are raised oi? the surfaces.

3. A roll mill, according to claim 2, in which the surfaces are constituted by rails and the lower work roll chocks have rollers adapted to cooperate with the rails for work roll withdrawal.

4. A rolling mill, according to claim 3, including means for adjusting the vertical height of the rails relative to the housing.

5. A rolling mill, according to claim 2, including means mounted on the housing for adjusting the vertical position of the upper work roll chocks relative to the lower Work roll chocks.

6. A rolling mill comprising lower housing members, a lower backup roll having lower backup roll chocks mountable in the lower housing members, an upper backup roll having upper backup roll chocks, means for prestressing together the upper backup roll chocks and the lower housing members, upper and lower work rolls having respectively upper and lower work roll chocks, the upper work roll chocks interfitting with and supportable by the lower work roll chocks so that the work rolls and their chocks are removable together as a unit, surfaces on the lower housing members for supporting the lower work roll chocks during removal of the unit from the mill, and means for adjusting the height of the lower backup roll chocks between a work roll withdrawal position, in which the lower work roll chocks are supported on the surfaces and the lower backup roll is lowered clear of the lower work roll, and a rolling position in which the lower work roll is supported by the lower backup roll and the lower work roll chocks are raised off the surfaces.

7. A rolling mill, according to claim 6, in which each lower work roll chock has parts projecting upwardly above the lower work roll, defining a vertical slot in which the upper work roll chock is receivable and in which the abutting vertical surfaces of the chocks are complementarily splined to permit relative vertical movement of the work roll chocks.

8. A rolling mill, according to claim 6, in which each lower work roll chock has two outwardly extending integral arms carrying rollers for cooperation with the surfaces on the lower housing member during work roll withdrawal.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 749,745 Philp Jan. 19, 1904 1,776,436 Iversen Sept. 23, 1930 2,037,210 Buente Apr. 14, 1936 2,056,433 Matthews Oct. 6, 1936 2,934,969 Neumann May 3, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,230,771 France Sept. 20, 1960 

1. A ROLLING MILL COMPRISING A HOUSING, AN UPPER AND A LOWER WORK ROLL, LOWER WORK ROLL CHOCKS FOR THE LOWER WORK ROLL, UPPER WORK ROLL CHOCKS FOR THE UPPER WORK ROLL, THE UPPER CHOCKS INTERFITTING WITH AND SUPPORTABLE BY THE LOWER CHOCKS SO THAT THE WORK ROLLS AND THEIR CHOCKS ARE REMOVABLE TOGETHER AS A UNIT, SURFACES ON THE HOUSING FOR SUPPORTING THE LOWER WORK ROLL CHOCKS 